Today, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered opening remarks at the APEC 2011 Ministerial Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. Secretary Clinton and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Ron Kirk welcomed foreign and economic ministers from APEC's member economies as well as representatives of international organizations. Secretary Clinton said:

"...The United States is proud to serve as host of this year's APEC Leaders Meeting. Global trends and world events have given us a full and formidable agenda, and the stakes are high for all of us. We are each trying to generate balanced, inclusive, sustainable growth that delivers good jobs for our citizens; economic, social, and environmental progress for our nations; and shared prosperity for this region.

"To accomplish these goals, we have to create a rules-based system that is open, free, transparent, and fair. Working to make that system a reality has been the focus of all of our meetings this year, in Washington; in Big Sky, Montana; in San Francisco; and now here in Hawaii. We even created an unofficial slogan: 'Get stuff done.' And we have.

"We've made tangible progress in three areas. First, integrating markets and expanding trade. We have focused on what we call next-generation issues -- for example, by working to help owners of small and medium-sized businesses reach new customers beyond their borders.

"Second, promoting green growth. We have advanced a trade initiative for environmental goods and services which will help spur industries investing in green growth. We've worked to reduce inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, which will help protect the environment by reducing the wasteful consumption of fossil fuels. And we are renewing our commitment to reduce our energy intensity by at least 45 percent by 2035.

"Third, deepening our regulatory cooperation and convergence. In recent years, we have seen how improvements in this area can unleash billions of dollars in commercial activities. For example, when a majority of APEC countries adopted a uniform safety standard for televisions in 2005, exports for the region increased by 45 percent over the subsequent three years."